'Jenny's Law' passes Texas Senate

1of3The mother of a rape victim holds a photograph of her child, Wednesday, March 22, 2017, at her home in Cypress.Photo: Marie D. De Jesus, Houston Chronicle

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AUSTIN - Reacting to a tragic Houston case that touched off a national scandal, the Texas Senate on Wednesday unanimously approved legislation designed to prevent crime victims from being jailed to ensure they testify in court without proper legal protections.

Called "Jenny's Law" in honor of the mentally ill Houston rape victim whose case became a dominant issue in last year's Harris County district attorney's race, Senate Bill 291 was quickly approved without debate and sent to the House for consideration.

Approval is also expected in the House, where the handling of the case has also drawn criticism from lawmakers statewide.

"This addresses a critical problem we discovered in Harris County … but one that can happen any place in Texas," said state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston. "This should never happen again."

In December 2015, Harris County prosecutors jailed a 25-year-old rape victim in order to secure her testimony against her attacker. The victim, identified as Jenny publicly by her attorneys and family, agreed to testify in the trial against her assailant, serial rapist Keith Edward Hendricks. However, the victim, who has long suffered from mental illnesses, suffered a psychological breakdown while testifying about her 2013 attack and was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Upon her release, she was jailed for 27 days at the request of prosecutors who wanted to ensure she would testify against Hendricks at his trial in January 2016.

In July, Jenny filed a federal lawsuit against prosecutors and Harris County, claiming that her constitutional rights had been violated and that her jailing amounted to being "re-raped." She further claimed that the court order - called an "attachment order" - used to jail her was illegally obtained.

A Houston Chronicle investigation published this week about the case - "Serial Indifference" - revealed that for nearly eight years, Hendricks was accused of raping homeless women in Harris County. Authorities arrested him for those crimes more than once, but flaws and failure in the criminal justice system allowed him to go free, leading to more alleged crimes.

Lawyer required

Whitmire said the bill requires that before anyone can seek a writ of attachment to hold a victim or witness in jail, "that person, an innocent person, has to have a court-appointed lawyer to protect their interests."

It also requires a public court hearing, not a hearing in a judge's chambers, and a re-hearing of the case after 15 days, Whitmire said.

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg has endorsed the legislation, as have other prosecutors and justice-advocacy groups. She won her election challenge over incumbent Devon Anderson, whose office authorized putting Jenny behind bars.

Ogg said she was gratified to learn of the Senate's quick and unanimous support for the bill and looked forward to a similar reception by the House.

"No victim of crime should ever again be made to suffer the trauma, indignity and indifference that attended Jenny's case," Ogg said. "This new law will ensure it won't happen to anybody else."

April Mitchell, chief executive officer for the Dallas Area Rape Crisis Center, applauded Texas lawmakers for honoring the rights and dignity of victims.

"Their example of unanimously passing bi-partisan legislation on behalf of vulnerable populations is a victory in the battle advocates fight on a daily basis," Mitchell said. She added that in an effort to provide protection and social justice for sexual assault victims, lawmakers have also created an ongoing conversation that can have lasting effects.

"We fight for a future of social justice that ensures protection from sexual violence and being re-victimized," she said.

'A lasting legacy'

Despite support in both the Senate and House, some prosecutors have raised concerns that the Houston case should have been addressed with a local policy change rather than a new state law.

Whitmire and state Sen. Joan Huffman, a Houston Republican and former Harris County prosecutor and district judge, insist the change in state law involving writs of attachment is something that should be changed now to prevent what happened to Jenny from happening again.

In addition, Whitmire said Jenny's case highlights several issues in Texas' criminal justice system: that jails hold too many mentally challenged people and are sometimes the largest mental health centers in a county; that violence is too pervasive in correctional settings; and that too many people who should be out on bond are held in jails because they can't afford it.

"Jail was not the place for Jenny and it's not the place for a lot of other people, certainly not victims and witnesses who can obviously be victimized again in that setting," Whitmire said.

Passage of the bill will give victims, especially sexual assault victims, peace of mind, knowing the criminal justice system is working on their behalf, said Andy Kahan, a victim advocate for the city of Houston.

"We can't go back and change what happened to Jenny," he said. "But at least she will have a lasting legacy knowing what happened to her will not happen to any other victim in the foreseeable future."